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The Skinny: Islanders 5, Maple Leafs 3

by
Eric Hornick
/ New York Islanders

Game 44

Isles 5, Maple Leafs 3

John Tavares scored two goals and added an assist as the Islanders rallied from an early 2-0 deficit and defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 before a sellout crowd of 19,676 at Air Canada Centre. The Islanders are 7-0-2 in their last nine, 10-1-2 in their last 13 and remain in seventh place in the East, one point behind sixth-place Ottawa and three points ahead of the eighth-place Rangers and ninth-place Winnipeg.

The Isles are 10-1-2 in the last 13 and are seven games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2006-07 season (40-30-12) … The Isles have outscored their opponents 14-5 in the third period over the last 13 games … Mark Streit’s assist was his 138th as an Islander, maintaining a one assist lead over John Tavares among active players … The Isles have now scored 126 goals and allowed 126 … The Isles are 8-0-0 when they score at least five goals … Dion Phaneuf’s late goal denied the Isles a chance to set a club record by allowing two goals or less for the 10th straight game … Brad Boyes had his second three-point game of the season, both against Toronto … His goal was his first in 16 games … John Tavares has 26 goals, which is two more than he had in his entire rookie campaign … He needs five goals in the final four games to match his career high of 31, set in 82 games last season … The Isles improve to 7-6-1 against the Northeast Division; if the season ended today, 4-of-5 Northeast teams would make the playoffs … The Isles tallied three goals in the first period for the second straight game … Phil Kessel played his 500th NHL game … Boyes, Tavares and Moulson each had a multi-point game, giving the trio a combined 33 multi-point games this season … It’s the first time that all three players have scored a goal in the same game.

First Time in a Long Time

The Isles have 22 points (10-1-2) in the last 13 games for the first time since they had 22 points in overlapping 12-game stretches early in the 2001-02 season … They have not had more than 22 points in any 13-game stretch since winning 14-of-15 games in the 1989-90 season, recording 24 points in three overlapping 13-game stretches.

The Islanders’ magic number for clinching a playoff spot is 6. Of the teams currently not in a playoff spot, Winnipeg can reach the highest total (56 points).

The Shots:

Isles 19-15-4=38

Maple Leafs 5-5-11=21

The Isles have allowed 28 or fewer shots in 14 of the last 16 games.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 23-16-5 overall, 10-11-3 at home and 13-5-2 on the road. Their 51 points in 44 games matches their highest total since they had 52 points in 44 games in 1984-85.

The Isles have earned 28 of a possible 40 road points (.700). Their all-time single-season record for road point percentage is .663, set in 1976-77 and matched in 1980-81. The Isles need to earn four points in their final four road games to set a new franchise record for point percentage on the road.

The Isles ended their home season with a six-game point streak (5-0-1) for the first time since going unbeaten in the final 23 home games of the 1981-82 season.

The Isles have points in nine straight (7-0-2) and are 10-1-2 in their last 13 games. It’s their longest point streak since they opened the 2001-02 season with a 9-0-1-1 record.

The Leafs are 24-15-5 overall, 13-8-2 at home and 11-7-3 on the road.

In the Nets

Evgeni Nabokov made 18 saves to improve to 22-11-5 on the season. His goals against average is 2.50. Nabokov is tied for the league lead in victories (pending San Jose’s late game).

James Riemer made 33 saves for the Leafs and falls to 17-6-5 on the season. He had allowed only seven goals in his previous five games.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 1-for-5 while the Leafs were 2-for-4.

It’s the first time in ten games that the Isles had five power plays.

The Isles are 15-3-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 7-14-4 when they do not.

In (Almost) Every Game

The Isles have been tied or ahead at some point in the third period in 38-of-44 games this season (23-10-5).

Coach Cappy

Jack Capuano now has 83 career wins and is the second winningest coach in Islander history. He will move into second place in games coached on Saturday at Winnipeg.

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.Al Arbour 740

2.Jack Capuano 83

3.Terry Simpson 81

4.Peter Laviolette 77

5.Ted Nolan 74

Most games coached (Islanders):

1.Al Arbour 1,500

2.Jack Capuano 191

3.Mike Milbury 191

4.Terry Simpson 187

5.Scott Gordon 181

They Said It

Brent Thompson: Credit has to be given to Boulton and Carkner; they brought a little bit of energy to the bench…we took it from there.

They Tweeted It

@themirl If @91Tavares wasn't in NHL MVP race before, no question he is now. A big game in Toronto will have that effect.

“I don’t know what happened at the beginning of the year, but we’ve put that behind us, moved forward and have done some good things here. We fell behind early, our 5-on-3 struggled, but we found a way to come back and get some pucks to the net. Fortunately, they went in.”

As Tavares Goes…

The Isles are 1-0-0 when Tavares has four points, 2-0-1 when he has three points, 7-2-0 when he has two points, 10-4-0 when he has one point, and 3-10-4 when Tavares is pointless.

What a Pair!

John Tavares and Matt Moulson have combined for 41 goals this season. Moulson has assisted on 19 Tavares goals this season after assisting on 12 of his 31 goals last season. Tavares has earned an assist on 10 Moulson goals this season. In five of the last six games that Moulson has scored a goal, Tavares has scored also.

Head of the Class

John Tavares has 247 career points and is 58 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks. No other player in that draft is anywhere close. Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.

118 NHL Goals

Moulson has 118 career goals (112 as an Islander). While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, only 16 have more goals.

Leading Ice Men

Travis Hamonic played 23:00 to lead the Isles. Dion Phaneuf led Toronto with 24:28.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 35-of-63 draws. Frans Nielsen won 9-of-12 to lead the Isles. John Tavares won 13-of-26; he has won 57-of-94 (61%) over the last six games.

Heavy Hitters

The Islanders were out-hit 40-25. Kyle Okposo led the Isles with six hits. Matt Martin added three hits; he has an NHL-leading 216 hits. The game changed in part after two first period fights as Matt Carkner fought Frazer McLaren and Eric Boulton fought Colton Orr four seconds apart. The Isles have 17 fighting majors this season.

Giving Up the Body

The Isles were credited with 22 blocked shots. Matt Carkner led the Islanders with four blocks. Andrew MacDonald had two, raising his NHL-leading total to 116.

All–time Winners

The Islanders are nine games over .500 all-time (1370-1361-437 in 3168 games). The Isles are assured of finishing the season above .500 all-time, as they have been at the end of every season since 1977-78. It’s the first time since March 24, 2011 that the Isles are nine games over .500 all-time.

April Wins Bring May Playoff Games

The Isles were 4-2-1 in January, 4-9-1 in February and 8-5-1 in March. They are 7-0-2 in April.

Ironmen

John Tavares is the reigning Islanders’ ironman. Tavares has now played in 203 consecutive games.

The Isles have scored 92 goals in their 23 wins (4.00 per game) and 34 goals in their other 21 games (0-16-5; 1.62 per game). In their 16 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 24 goals (1.50 per game).

The Islanders win the season series two games to one (and five points to two). The road team won all three games.

The Isles have won three straight games in Toronto for the first time since 12/11/91-2/3/93, outscoring the Leafs by a 17-9 score. The Isles have scored at least five goals in each of the three games; it’s the first time they have ever scored five goals in three straight games at Toronto.

The Isles are 3-0-2 overall vs. Toronto in their last five games, holding the Leafs to 21 shots or fewer three of them. It’s their first five-game point streak vs. Toronto since 2001-03.

Happy Anniversary

26 years ago tonight (4-18-87): Two words: Easter Epic. Pat LaFontaine scored 8:47 into the quadruple-overtime to give the Islanders a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of their playoff series. Kelly Hrudey made 73 saves for the Isles in the longest Game 7 ever played and the longest game in Islander history. The game ended at 1:58 AM on Easter Sunday.

Also on this date: (1979) Mike Bossy scores at 2:31 of overtime in a 1-0 win over Chicago; (1982) Bryan Trottier’s goal at 3:00 of overtime gives the Isles a 4-3 win over the Rangers and a 2-1 series lead in the Patrick Division Final.

All-time, the Isles are 3-1-0 in regular season play and 4-6 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on this date.

On The Farm

Bridgeport is 31-30-7-5 on the season heading into the final weekend of the AHL season. The Sound Tigers are five points out of a playoff spot with only three games to play. Bridgeport visits Portland on Friday before concluding the regular season with a pair of home games over the weekend.

Up Next

SATURDAY, APRIL 20 ISLANDERS AT WINNIPEG (3:00PM)

[MSG+ (pre-game show at 2:30), WRHU (88.7FM]

The Isles continue the road trip in Saturday against the Jets and both teams will have a lot to play for. The Isles lead the Jets by three points and each team has four games to play.

An Islander win would put the Isles on the threshold of clinching a playoff berth while a Jets win would tie Winnipeg with Washington for the Southeast Division lead, pending Washington’s Saturday night game in Montreal.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in “The Skinny” has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter.